Sparks
by girl in the green shoelaces
Summary: A family road trip gone sour causes everyone to realize a few things. Jade always has and will always rescue Cat.
1. Calling All Angels

I do not own these characters or the show that they come from.

READ THIS!

I got the idea while watching Cat's profile on the slap, her parents ditched her on a family road trip. I just added my own twist to it. Hope ya like it.

-G. Laces

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><p>The phone rang three times before someone answered. Almost crying with relief she stopped herself from even a slight happy squeak.<p>

"Tori?"

Before she could explain or ask for help Tori spoke over her slight whimper.

"Cat listen. We're very busy working on the spring play. I'd love to hear about all the awesome things you're doing with your parents but I've got to be on set. I shouldn't have even answered the phone. Call me later, okay? Bye."

Click.

Wincing she checked the battery power, two bars. Dialing with tears in her eyes she looked worriedly at the horizon. The sun was setting and everything was always less fun in the dark.

"Hey you've reached Andre, leave a message at the tone."

His standard intonation was followed by a beep.

Dialing another number she waited. Maybe her parents had just gone out for cup cakes! But four hours was an awful long time to spend eating cup cakes even if they were red velvet. Ohh but they always could have gone out for cup cakes then eaten them at the movies, except the mean boy always yelled when she brought red velvet cup cakes into the movies .

"Yo you've reached Rex, cause I know you ain't calling for Robbie. Leave a message at the tone."

And he would always try to take them away from her.

"This is Beck. You know what to do."

And Jade always saved her from him, except for this one time but she'd bought her another cupcake after the movie and after that the mean boy always backed off when Jade glared. Giggling at the thought she flinched as electricity surged throughout her body. Tears began to form in her eyes as she dialed her last number.

"Hey."

"Jade?"

The shock again brought tears to her eyes.

"Cat? "


	2. Ice Cream

As i said eariler i own nothing. I should probably space these two chapters out a bit more for the sake of reviews but oh well. I write to write not to get reviews but i do love reviews.

Enjoy,

G. Laces

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><p>Rehearsal was driving her insane. They'd been working for twelve hours the first Saturday of Spring break. Everyone had become exceedingly irksome incurring her wrath multiple times however Tori, Robbie, Beck, and Andre were at the top of her list. After Tori's initial phone conversation the boys had each faked answering machines using a new app on Andre's phone to create the beep. It was almost sickening to watch their waste of time.<p>

Glaring at her side as it vibrated she considered ignoring the device. Cursing under her breath she reminded herself of the one reason she bothered with the damn thing. Cat was on vacation with her parents again. They had a bad history with road trips. Bringing the phone to her ear she stalked around a corner. No one dared to follow.

"Cat?"

She hadn't even bothered to check the number. Only Cat was stupid enough to call her, frequently.

"Jade?"

The voice was strained and instantly Jade was furious. Out for the blood of whoever was responsible for why Cat sounded like a sick kitten with a wound that had been festering for weeks slowly begging for death. Shaking her head aggressively she almost growled at the though of death. Everyone around her watched as she stormed out of practice her car keys in hand. Rationalizing that she wouldn't be able to inflict pain with the information that she had, and that Cat had spaced, she spoke.

"Where are you?"

Silence. Well not quite silence she heard a slight sniffle followed by a whimper. Growling once again she barked into the phone while unlocking her car one handed.

"The same road stop right? Go to the girls bathrooms and stand on something in a stall. I don't want anyone to know you're there."

She hung up before Cat had a chance to respond. She needed her concentration to speed. Watching for cops she looked like the devil herself blazing through the darkening streets.

….

Jade always rescued her.

That was the only conclusion Cat could come to as she sat with her legs curled under her on the nasty rest stop toilet seat. Cringing at the smell she looked on the bright side, at least in the bathroom it wouldn't be dark. She had gotten lost in the dark on a camping trip once with her brother when they were younger. He thought they'd never be found again and began to eat the bark off trees, she was glad that they had been found before she had too. She doubted that bark tasted like ice cream, but then again life was full of surprises. After all she was sure Tori would have come when she called. For a moment she considered sneaking out to try bark but she knew Jade would be furious and when Jade was mad at her they never got ice cream.

"Cat. You can come out now."

Stepping down she unlatched the metal dohicky on the door before leaping into Jade's arms. It was their secret, she was allowed to hug her in private.

"What is that?"

Looking up she wanted to explain but it was like this one time when her throat was sore and the doctors told her she shouldn't talk. That didn't mean she couldn't sing but she'd tried singing and that hurt too. Her dad had made it two notches too tight but with it he said he wouldn't mind actually letting her come with them on the family road trip. Something about how it would force her to drop down to fifteen words a day at most.

"Why didn't you just take it off Cat?"

Jade asked unable to believe in that level of stupidity until she noticed the padlock in the back. Cat without her usual vocals was unnerving but this was unspeakable. Blood boiling Jade forced back the red overtaking her vision focusing on Cat. Cat needed her.

"Go sit on the counter I've got a bobby pin"

Within seconds the bark collar was deactivated and demolished under steel toed boots. Slowly inspecting Cat's neck Jade's anger left her then flooded through her body once again. There were angry red burn marks around where the collar had shocked her red head. They needed to go to the hospital . She tried not to think about how Cat had been left defenseless at a rest stop at night. How Cat wouldn't even have been able to scream for help, because those thoughts would lead to blood shed which would come in due time. The priority of the moment was Cat.

"Say something."

She didn't mean to sound so forceful, hadn't intended to cause Cat to gasp and back up. For a moment she felt betrayal which converted instantly into anger she'd never hurt her Cat. Although threatening to throw her off the cat walk had been amusing. That's why she would never hurt her, Cat was amusing.

"I just want to see if there's damage to your vocal cords."

Nodding distant eyes met hers as Cat scooted to the edge of the counter, Jade wasn't sure if she should let her walk or just carry her.

"Laa, Laaa."

Perfection.

Jade noticed the fearful finch followed by a small smile when no pain followed the notes.

"Cat we have to go to a hospital."

Once again Cat shot back to the mirror. Kicking herself for not waiting at least until they were in the car to bring that up Jade sighed.

"But I want ice cream. Let's go."

Her normal bossy slightly threatening intonation had Cat standing next to her almost bouncing. Regardless of the situation ice cream was always a solution with Cat. It was soo simple to fix the world for her red head. .. Maybe that was why she found her amusing. She was the only person Jade could touch and not worry about breaking because ice cream would make it better.

"Cat talk to me."

For the walk through the dimly lit parking lot Jade pretended not to notice Cat's hand in her own.

"I think they went out for cup cakes and then went to a movie but that mean boy was there and he took the cup cakes so they went back out for cup cakes but that made them miss their movie which became a vicious cycle."

The response was so very Cat.

"When I get my hands on them the mean movie boy will be the last of their worries."

Opening the door for Cat she waited until the red head was seat belted before moving to her side of the car. Once she buckled herself in she glanced over at Cat who had already spaced out her smearing Jade's once clear windows her eyes slowly closing. She pretended not to notice how Cat's left hand had intertwined its self with her right.

...

Mercifully Cat slept through initial observation, by the time she woke Jade had managed to intimidate the hospital's kitchen crew into surrendering a gracious amount of ice cream. Which instantly made things better for Cat, the doctor however motioned for Jade to follow him into the hall.

"For burns to be that severe with a bark collar she would have had to have attempted speech multiple times on the highest level."

The night of Andre's party flashed into Jade's mind.

"She tried to sing."

The doctor looked at her as if she was crazy for a moment, she merely glared at him and instantly his tail returned to between his legs.

"Why w?"

Jade cut him off.

"She was sick a few weeks ago with an infection in her throat. I told her if she spoke blood thirsty penguins would slowly peck away the toes of everyone she loved. So she sang and nothing bad happened."

He blinked for a moment.

"Oh god, I think I understand her logic."

Smirking Jade glanced into Cat's room to see her friend still enjoying ice cream.

"Now you know how I feel."

Nodding the man pulled the charts to his chest and began to shuffle on his feet. Smelling his fear Jade indulged in a small glare that demanded to know what he was not telling her.

"if your friend was abused with a bark caller by her family then you understand that she can not go back to them. So we've umm you see, it's hospital policy to inform the police of child abuse and when she came in and we heard her story our nurses instantly followed procedure and I've got to umm go ummm now…"

Before Jade could tear his throat out a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Jade."

The pity in his voiced churned her stomach. For Cat's benefit she managed not to swing a right hook as she turned around to face Officer Vega ripping her shoulder from his grasp.

"I can't believe they called you. Go. away."

Sympathy pooled off him. As if now he understood everything about her. He didn't realize that she wasn't the only one with crap ass parents.

"Jade let me help you."

Shaking her head she glared at the man.

" I have my own car, my own bank account, and my own apartment. My dad isn't around enough to pull this shit."

As if he just realized that one added to one equaled two he looks through the window and noticed Cat. The fury in his eyes matched Jade's at the sight of blisters around Cat's neck. And suddenly Vega was welcome in the area as long as was pissed and not pitiful.

"They're prescribing her an ointment that will numb the area and help her heal. They're releasing her."

It almost sounded like a threat but O. Vega nodded.

"She's not going back to them but she'll need a place to stay until we can figure out what she wants. I don't think emancipation is where we're going with this but I promise she wont go back to them. Now I just have to figure out where to put her until…"

"She's staying with me."

Jade left no room for argument even with herself.

"Take her home then. I'll take care of the paperwork and get her prescription. I'll be there in a couple hours."

Insert Jade glare here.

"You don't know where I live."

"I'm a cop."


	3. Someone Else

Sparks3

Curled upon Jades jet black couch Cat shivered staring at her host.. Seated on the other side Jade glared at the gore playing across her television. Together they'd choreographed bloodier scenes she could not thathom why the red head eeped with every half eaten corpse. Flinching at the bothersome sound again she turned her glare on her guest leaving it there for effect before casting her gaze back on the television. Another Eep shattered the stop and flow.

"If you don't want to watch the movie, go to bed."

Withering under Jade's anger Cat almost burst into tears.

"I can't sleep. My neck really really hurts! When I twist it to put my head on the pillow it burns! Jade make it stop, please?"

Jade wanted to watch Zombies.

"Then put your head against a wall so nothing rubs against it AND let me watch my damn zombies!"

And Cat was crying leaving the room Jade sighed turning up the television. The redhead knew better than to leave the apartment she could deal with everything after the movie. She needed to escape from the fact that everything was shattering around her. As she began to finally drift away her phone began to vibrate. Screaming with angry jerking motions she reached over and grabbed the cursed device. Glancing at the caller id she sighed as she hit talk.

"Beck. Speak."

She had to pick up he was the only aspect of her life that wasn't falling screwed to hell.

"Jade, I'm not going to….we're done."

How could he? He knew how difficult it was for her to express emotions that did not include gore, when they'd started dating in a rare show of form she'd even admitted that she cared about him and explained why she didn't want to . The second you actually care about someone they do this.

"It's Vega."

Rage burned her vision when he did not deny her accusation. He was leaving her for the two bit sorry excuse for an actor?

"You ran out of practice today. You just left everything with no explanation alright? You insult my family. You abuse our friends. When was the last time you did something nice for someone else? No personal gain nothing more than just looking out for someone you care about? I'm sorry Jade, take spring break off I'll cover tech."

She didn't hear anything more as her phone crashed against the wall. Staring at the thousand pieces Alone in the dark living room with gore on her television she lowered herself to the floor bringing her knees to her chest and bracing her back against the couch. She wouldn't cry Jade West didn't cry. Emptiness began to consume her as she forced herself back into the void. Until a knock on the door brought her back. Whoever it was would leave because she refused to move but they didn't and after five minutes of pounding she wasn't sure how much more her door could take. Stalking towards the door her mascara smeared eyes dark angry she readied herself to lay into whoever was stupid enough to bother her.

"Jade."

"O. Vega."

Great the sperm doner of a boyfriend thief.

"I brought Cat's pain killers and ointment to apply on the burns. There are a few thing I need to discuss with her."

Cat! The spacey red head had been in the apartment the entire time! She was probably on the phone with Vega gossiping reassuring her that there would be no retaliation. Growling she stepped back hostility rising as the stupid man dared to step through the threshold of her apartment.

"Come in."

Sarcasm dripping through her words she walked towards her bedroom not caring weather he followed, or not. She was done with every stupid idiot in the world that thought they could break Jade West even if she would never admit it to herself Beck had at the very least done some damage.

"Cat!"

She growled as she strode into her room ripping her comforter off the bed she found nothing. Moving to Glancing around to see where Cat was hiding she her anger grow. One living room a kitchen a bedroom a closet and a bathroom. Two places left to check. Moving to her bathroom she pounded on the door, when there was no response she reached for the handle only to find that it was locked. Great.

"Cat I know you're in there open up."

Envisioning the red head texting Tori on a pear phone her rational brain didn't even argue that Cat's purse was locked in her car. Running on raw pain that had been converted into anger at Beck and Tori's betrayal and the betrayal of those she'd loosely considered friends by association she once again slammed on her door.

No response.

" in my room there's a wire hanger bring it to me. CAT!"

Moments later Jade was preparing to trigger the lock.

"Go. Now. Wait in the kitchen."

Modesty was the least of her worries but pounding he was in on the charade, even if he wasn't no cop would stand by and let her pound anyone. Storming through the door metaphorical guns blazing she stopped m id step at the sight before her. Cat sleeping? Under what had to be a freezing shower fully closed the gauz on her neck gone. Instead she was finally able to see deep burns matching her hair. Anger drained from her instantly then returned when she thought about the man that had done that. But he wasn't there. She was the only one in her bathroom with Cat who had to be hurting whose neck was a raw Jade's seeping rage. Slowly walking toward the shower she flinched as freezing water pelted her arm and shoulder when she reached in to cease the flow. The second chilling water stopped Cat wearily opened her eye's weakly protesting.

"Cat."

Groggy eyes gazed up at her before looking away and for one of the first times in their relationship Cat was silent.

"Get. Out ."

Whimpering Cat stared up at her with wide disbelieving eyes. Kicking her abrasive disposition Jade made the effort to soften bite.

"The shower! Cat. Do you want to get sick?"

Grabbing a towel she wrapped it around her friend before leading Cat to her bedroom. Sighing pulled out black pajama pants and a grey V neck.

"Put these on. Officer Vega's here."

"I'm sorry. Please don't make me leave."

_Can't you just do something nice for once?_

"Vega just wants to talk to you. You're not going anywhere."

She waited for Cat's usual explosion of cheerfulness the world of ponies and ice cream, when it didn't come she looked back at her friend eyes widened as she threw her soaked arms around Jade. For a moment however brief Jade allowed herself to take comfort in Cat's hug before stepping back.

"Now I'm soaked. Change into this, I don't want anything to do with any Vega's let's get rid of him."

…..

"Is there anything I can do for you guys?"

Cat had fallen asleep the second the pain killers hit her leaving Jade alone with the third person on her list of people she didn't want to see. Glaring at him she was tempted to snap. _You insult my family, you abuse your friends, can't you just do something nice for someone else for a change? _Glancing down at the red head leaning on her shoulder she sighed. He'd redone the bandage around Cat's neck.

"There's money on the table. I don't have any movies that she likes and a night light."

Pausing for a moment arguing with herself she forced herself to look up at him repeating in her mind 'this is for Cat.'

"Please?"

Nodding he let himself out while Jade sat with Cat's head in her lap. Staring blankly at the television every moment with Beck spinning through her mind. Dizzy. He was a testament to why emotions shouldn't matter.

"I love you Jade."

And Cat with the gauze around her neck trusting her, loving her…meant something she just hadn't figured it out yet.

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><p>As usual I don't own anything. Hope everyone enjoyed the newest chapter and yeah drop a review….<p>

Peace out

-Girl ITGS Laces.


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